Liberty on the Brink of Elimination After Loss to Mercury
The defending WNBA champion, New York Liberty, is one loss away from elimination in the playoffs after suffering a resounding defeat to the Phoenix Mercury with a score of 86-60 at the Barclays Center on Wednesday night.This was the worst home defeat in playoff history for the Liberty and the second-largest playoff defeat for a defending champion in WNBA history. Many fans who were hoping to see the Liberty advance to the semifinals left the stadium with 4:54 remaining in the final quarter.
The decisive Game 3 will be played in Phoenix on Friday.Stewart, who suffered a medial collateral ligament sprain in the final minutes of the Game 1 overtime victory, started the game but wore a knee brace on his left knee. He played 20 minutes, but only scored six points and two rebounds, ending his streak of 44 consecutive playoff games with at least 10 points. He averaged 18.3 points and 6.6 rebounds this season. Stewart scored two points in the first half, tying the fewest he has had in any half during his playoff career. Stewart said she was happy with the way her knee responded to Wednesday night’s test, but she wasn’t happy with her performance.“They came and embarrassed us on our court,” Breanna Stewart said. “Now we have to go back there for Game 3. Winner takes all. If we’re not ready for that, then we shouldn’t be here.”
Breanna Stewart
Phoenix’s defense suffocated New York, holding them 24 points below their season average of 84.4 points per game. The Mercury had 10 steals, and New York finished with 15 turnovers. The Liberty hit 10 of 20 field goals in the first quarter, but only 9 of 43 in the last three.“I just wasn’t where I wanted to be today,” she said. “And I have 48 hours to figure it out.”
Breanna Stewart
The score was tied at 25 after the first quarter, but the Liberty’s collapse was swift and decisive after that. The list of things that went wrong for New York, which won the franchise’s first WNBA title a year ago, was long and varied:“Defense has been our calling card all year,” said Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts. “The hope is that when you get to the playoffs, you raise your level. I think we have done that.”
Nate Tibbetts
Satou Sabally and Alyssa Thomas led Phoenix with 15 points each. Kahleah Copper and DeWanna Bonner scored 14 each. Sabally had four steals. It was a significant bounce-back game for Sabally, who went 2-of-17 in Game 1.“We all have to raise our game, our defense, our offense,” Jones said. “We’re such a powerful team offensively, and tonight they were really able to clog us up and muck things up.”
Jonquel Jones
The Mercury, who were outscored 11-4 in overtime of Game 1, took the momentum into Game 3, the winner takes it all.“There was a lot of talk about her last game, but if you haven’t had a game like that, then you haven’t been playing at the highest level,” Thomas said. “We have the utmost confidence in her and we knew she was going to go out and do her thing tonight.”
Alyssa Thomas
“We can’t go out and play the same way we did and expect a different result,” Ionescu said. “I think we have to go out and make the adjustments and play like our season is on the line, because it is. And theirs too.”
Sabrina Ionescu
